Retailers under fire for woes in sweatshops

Big-brand clothing companies and fashion retailers use their market power to drive down wages and conditions for workers in developing countries, a study by aid agency Oxfam Community Aid Abroad has found.

The report, released yesterday, said big retailers often blamed suppliers for the poor wages and long working hours of overseas garment makers, but the competitive policies of big-brand sellers and fashion houses generated pressure to undermine working conditions.

The study involved interviews with 1000 workers, factory and brand owners, importers, exporters, unions and government officials in developed and developing countries. The report, Trading Away Our Rights, noted that half the garments sold in Australia were made overseas.

It showed garment workers were being forced to labour harder and longer for lower wages. Most had no sick leave or maternity leave, were often intimidated and were frequently penalised for joining unions.

"In China, for example, young women face 150 hours of overtime each month," it said.

Oxfam executive director Andrew Hewett called on the big retailers to agree to an independent audit to determine whether they were directly or indirectly applying pressure on suppliers to drive down working conditions.

"Multinational companies... bully suppliers into greater flexibility, higher quality and shorter delivery times, as well as cheaper prices. This pressure is dumped immediately on to women workers in the form of longer hours, often in poor conditions and with no job security," he said.

A Coles Myer spokesman said the company was the first to sign up to the FairWear code to protect local outworkers. "We always do business ethically. We have standards that we expect our suppliers to abide by," he said.